Nutrition Archives - Page 25 of 30 - Natural Eye Care Blog: News & Research on Vision

Blueberries Reduce Blood Pressure and Improve Eye Health

A new study of rats has found that daily intake of blueberries helps reduce blood pressure in hypertensive animals. The study, published in the Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry is unique in that they studied the results of eating the berry itself, not isolated compounds derived from the fruit. Source: https://mobile.nutraingredients-usa.com/Research/Blueberries-linked-to-improved-blood-vessel-health-Rat-study.

Blueberries, and their cousins bilberries and huckleberries have been found to help those with retinitis pigmentosa and diabetic retinopathy.

Weight Loss Discovery: Eat Less When You Eat a Nutrient Rich Diet

One of the most basic and essential recommendations we can make to those interested in maintaining and improving eye health is to eat well.

A new study published in the Nutrition Journal are better able to manage their weight when they consume a diet high in nutrients. The more nutritious your diet, the higher the “micronutrient density” is, and the higher that micronutrient density, the less likely you are to feel the hunger that will drive you to overeat. Source: Nutrition Journal

Learn more about the nutrient contents of food and how eating certain things can enhance eye health.

For more on the Vision Diet, click here.

Blood Tests For Food Allergies in Children May Result in False Positives

Blood tests for food allergies in children may not be as reliable as you think.

According to a study published in the Journal of Pediatrics 84 – 93% of foods that had been avoided due to blood test results could be reintroduced after passing “food challenges.” Source: https://www.foodnavigator-usa.com/

This is not to say that we should ignore the ways that food allergies and sensitivities can impact health. Diseases and conditions people suffer from can actually result from hidden allergies and sensitivities, including everything from rheumatoid arthritis to depression.

Learn more about common allergens and how lifestyle changes and supplements can help you manage food sensitivities.

Silicon in Bottled Water Can Help Women With Osteoporosis

Scientists interested in counteracting osteoporosis and decreases in bone density are researching how the silicon found in bottled water from artesian wells can help postmenopausal women with low bone mass. Silicon is required in trace amounts for normal bone formation.

This study, published in Nutrition Journal, shows that drinking such water from artesian aquifers is a good source of silicon. The trials only lasted 12 weeks, not enough time to show changes in the subjects’ bone markers, but researchers are optimistic and believe that further study is warranted.

Because standard treatments such as bisphosphonate drugs and hormone replacement therapy have been associated with osteonecrosis (bone death caused by decreased blood supply) or increased cardiovascular risk, it is important to find new options for women that have fewer debilitating and life threatening side effects.

There are many other compounds that can help combat osteoporosis including magnesium, vitamin D, and copper.

For other helpful supplements and a full overview of natural treatment options for osteoporosis, click here.

Source: Nutrition Journal

5 Ways to Absorb the Most Nutrients From Food and Supplements

You take your nutritional supplements as directed by your health care provider or as directed on the bottle, but how do you know if you are absorbing all of those vital nutrients? You may order a beautiful salad made with organic greens, but are you getting all of those carotenoids like lutein and zeaxanthin that are essential to preventing macular degeneration and cataracts?

Here are some tips on how to ensure that you are getting the most out your food as well as those vitamins, minerals, and other therapeutic compounds intended to improve your health:

1. Reduce stress: Stress restricts the flow of blood in the body by tightening muscles, and restricting the free flow of fluids. Meditation, yoga, tai chi or even daily walks in nature can all help reduce stress significantly.

2. Eat slowly: We should be eating our food slowly and thoughtfully. Try never to eat on the run, and don’t eat while conversing, writing, doing work, etc. Make eating a special time for yourself.

3. Exercise regularly: Exercise helps the body rid itself of harmful toxins that build-up daily. Numerous studies have shown that even a brisk walk of 20 minutes per day can have a major impact in reducing development of disease such as heart disease, and has even been shown to reduce high eye pressures in cases of glaucoma.

4. Positive thinking: In Chinese medicine, excessive thoughts of anger, worry, resentment, grief and fear all have significant effects on the free flow of “energy” in the body.

5. Eat healthy food: Our bodies crave fresh food, particularly fruits, vegetables, and grains. These foods provide energy to the body in the form of vitamins, minerals, and natural enzymes. Excessive intake of “dead” food such as fast foods, or highly processed foods, requires our bodies to use its own enzymes and energy to digest food in an attempt to separate whatever limited nutrients may be available.

Update: Also see our new article on the relationship between digestive enzymes and vision health.

Omega-3s Help Prevent Gum Disease

Let’s add to the list of conditions that can be treated effectively with omega-3 fatty acids: gum disease.

Research published in the Journal of the American Dietetic Association shows that omega-3s DHA and EPA can help to reduce periodontitis by up to 20%. Periodontitis, a chronic inflammation of the gums that causes the gum to separate from the tooth and harbor infection that can result in bone and tooth loss, affects more than 30 million Americans.

Up until now, prevention of periodontitis has generally only included keeping the teeth and mouth clean and applying antibiotics locally. Researchers are optimistic that the condition can respond to dietary therapy.

Fish oil is the primary source of omega-3 fatty acids. It can be found in supplement form or you can focus on foods that are high in DHA and EPA: Cold water fish (including salmon, tuna, mackerel, halibut), flax seed oil, black current oil, walnuts and walnut oils, dark leafy vegetables, eggs (from free range chickens preferred), spices (including mustard, fennel, cumin and Fenugreek).
Source: Nutraingredients

Natural Ways to Fight “Old Eyes” or Presbyopia

People who develop presbyopia (from the Latin, meaning “old eyes”) have difficulty focusing on close objects because the crystalline lens of the eye loses its flexibility. Though it may seem to happen suddenly, this change in vision takes place over many years. Signs of presbyopia include the tendency to hold reading materials at arm’s length, blurred vision at normal reading distance, and eye fatigue along with headaches when doing close work.

The American Society of Cataract & Refractive Surgery (ASCRS) is aiming help patients and the public better understand presbyopia. They have introduced the new term “Age-Related Focus Dysfunction” to “medicalize” the condition. The ASCRS has a very different perspective on eye health than we do at Natural Eye Care, and while they seek to educate the public about surgical options for dealing with “short arm syndrome,” we would emphasize the ways in which healthy lifestyle and diet choices can keep eye young and flexible.

It’s important to realize that deteriorating eye sight is not inevitable just because you have celebrated forty-five birthdays or more.

To combat presbyopia, we recommend a combination of visual therapy, nutrition, and lifestyle changes to help slow down the progression of farsighted vision and possibly even improve vision. Genetics, stress, diet, and even personality type all play a role in the deterioration of vision and the onset of disease. Certain nutrients including lutein, zeaxanthin, vinpocetine, l-lysine can be very helpful.

A good place to start is with eye exercises that can help to bring energy and blood to the eyes, thereby helping to drain away toxins or congestion to the eyes.

There are surgical options out there, with more coming down the pike all the time, but why not improve your diet (leafy greens, whole grains, no transfats), quit smoking, cut back on alcohol, start an exercise (20 minutes per day of aerobic activity is a great start), and take up a relaxation practice (yoga, meditation, etc.)?

Presbyopia Affects Women the Most

Research focused on individuals in the developing world is showing that presbyopia affects men and women at different ages and in different ways.

A number of studies have revealed that women are more likely to suffer from presbyopia across the world – in Ghana, India, and Brazil. Due to economics, women are also less likely to be able to obtain glasses than men. For example, in a study of people with presbyopia in Tanzania, only 6% with the condition had glasses and nearly all of those were men.

While this condition is often associated with difficulties associated with reading and writing, in many parts of the world presbyopia interferes with other essential daily tasks like “lighting and adjusting lamps, winnowing grain, sorting rice, weeding, sewing, cooking food, and dressing children.”

Source: Community Eye Health Journal

Multifocal Contact Lenses for Presybyopia: A problem

Multifocal contacts lenses are often prescribed to people with presbyopia and have been linked to problems with driving at night.

An article published in Investigative Ophthalmology & Visual Science describes how people wearing the lenses have a harder time recognizing road hazards. Though the subjects could read the road signs, they had to be closer to see them clearly than when they were wearing glasses.

Researchers hope that their findings will help move manufacturers to improve the optical quality of their multifocal lenses.

Source: https://www.medicalnewstoday.com

Learn more about presbyopia.

Vitamin B12 Helps Fight Alzheimer’s, Anemia, and Glaucoma

A study out of Sweden shows that people with diets rich in vitamin B12 are much less likely to develop Alzheimer’s disease.

Published in the journal Neurology, researchers describe how the risk of Alzheimer’sdropped by 2% for every micromole per liter of vitamin B12 found in the blood.

However, they also found that decreased levels of the amino acid homocysteine, which is also associated with cardiovascular disease and stroke, can also increase the risk of Alzheimer’s. Vitamin B12 can actually lower those homocysteine levels.

According to the source of this story, Medical News Today, study authors conclude that “their study reveals the need for more research into vitamin B12’s role as a marker for identifying individuals at higher risk of developing Alzheimer’s Disease.”

Good food sources of B12 include eggs, sardines, clams, and mackerel. Learn more about food sources of nutrients.

It has long been known that B12 is essential for a healthy nervous system, with deficiencies leading to permanent damage of nerve cells. B12 comes from fish, meat, eggs, milk products and processed fortified foods. People who are on a vegan diet need to make sure they are getting enough B12, since the body stores B12 for a long time and deficiency symptoms may not appear until the problem is serious.

Treating Glaucoma Naturally; Focusing on the Needs of Individual Patients

At Natural Eye Care, we tend to have a different philosophy on how to treat and prevent eye conditions such as glaucoma compared to those in the conventional medical community. One thing we definitely agree with, however, is that patients need to be seen as individuals with specific needs, especially when it comes to a disease like glaucoma.

An article at OSN SuperSite discusses the importance of crafting a specific medical regimen for glaucoma patients. They talk about pharmaceutical options, while we are advocates of natural approaches including diet, exercise, stress management, and nutritional supplementation. (See our Vision Wellness Protocol for an introduction to this approach.)

While the doctors interviewed in the above mentioned article focus a great deal on managing intraocular pressure and look at it as the major way to manage the progression of glaucoma, we know that more and more people are developing normal-tension glaucoma (NTG) and that progressive vision deterioration can occur even with IOP-lowering intervention. We advocate natural supplements such as ginkgo biloba that have been proven to improve pre-existing visual field damage in some individuals suffering from glaucoma.

Processed Red Meat Associated with Metabolic Sydrome, Heart Disease

An estimated 50 million Americans have Metabolic Syndrome, which means they are at increased risk of coronary heart disease and other diseases related to plaque buildups in artery walls. Per the American Heart Association, those with MetS suffer from: abdominal obesity, blood fat disorders, elevated blood pressure, and insulin resistance or glucose intolerance.

A new study published in the journal Nutrition, Metabolism and Cardiovascular Diseases finds that one doubles his or her risk of developing MetS if they consume high amounts of red meat, especially processed red meat.

The researchers say that this is the first study of its kind to specifically examine the consequences of eating processed red meat. Processed meats include: hot dogs, bologna, sausage, ham, and other packaged lunch meats.

Source: Foodnavigator-usa.com